Betrayed, I Rise novel · Chapter 8 of 32

Chapter 8: Crop the Hand

I almost scrolled past it.

The Montauk folder was right there. The one that made Skylar famous. The originals I'd need to prove anything.

But my hand went to April.

I remembered those files.

Skylar had sent them from Lisbon in the middle of the night, a whole cloud folder, with a voice note.

"Babe, you're a genius, I need these by morning, my audience is starving."

I'd edited them in my dorm room with a mug of cold tea, during finals.

I double-clicked.

The folder opened into rows of thumbnails.

Yellow trams. Tiled walls. Skylar on a rooftop at sunset with her hair blowing.

I remembered every single one.

I remembered her texts too. She always sent notes.

I pulled up our old thread on my phone and scrolled back to April, while the laptop fan whirred.

There it was. April 14.

"Love the tram ones. For the cafe shot, crop the hand, it ruins the vibe."

I'd cropped it.

I hadn't even looked at whose hand it was.

It was a big, blurry hand at the edge of the frame. Skylar's waist. Some guy, I thought.

A waiter. A stranger she'd asked to hold her.

I did what she asked. I always did.

Now I found the original.

The RAW file opened slowly, the way RAW files do, the picture sharpening in stripes.

Skylar at a little metal table outside a cafe, laughing with her head thrown back.

And on her waist, a hand.

A man's right hand.

I zoomed in.

The knuckles were broad and rough. Across them ran a pale, shiny scar, a crooked line.

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